Ethan Walker

By day, I'm a cybersecurity journalist. My beat is the digital front lines: breaking news on the latest mega-breach, deciphering new CVE disclosures, and trying to spot the real trends in all the vendor hype. I've worked with some brilliant folks at threat intel startups, and my specialty is cutting through the noise to give you a rapid, clear analysis of what a vulnerability actually means for you. On this portal, I'm your go-to for up-to-the-minute reports on critical incidents, cyberattacks, and those all-important security advisories. Consider me your early warning system. When I’m not glued to a terminal or a threat feed, you can probably find me: Tinkering with my home lab: My apartment is a graveyard of old routers and servers I've turned into a makeshift SOC. My smart fridge is, ironically, the most secure thing in my building. Trying to perfect a pour-over coffee: There's a zen-like focus to it that helps me decompress after a day of reading about threat actors. I swear the perfect brew helps me spot a zero-day faster. Browsing used bookstores: I have a weakness for dog-eared cyberpunk novels and vintage tech manuals. Something about the smell of old paper is the perfect antidote to a digital world. My quirk? I have an irrational hatred for the phrase "unprecedented attack." In this field, if you're paying attention, very little is truly unprecedented. I will probably edit it out of my first draft three times. Stick around. Let's make sense of this chaotic digital world together.

State of Ransomware 2025: Entry Vectors, Downtime & Recovery Time

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State of Ransomware 2025: Entry Vectors, Downtime & Recovery Time Chapter 1: Entry Vectors – How Ransomware Gained Initial Access in 2025 Ransomware in 2025 shows a clear pattern in how attackers breached organizations. According to the Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 survey of 3,400 IT and cybersecurity leaders, exploited vulnerabilities remain the number-one initial […]

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Real-World Example: The Twitter Bitcoin Scam (2020)

Leave a Comment / Social Engineering /

The Twitter Bitcoin Scam (2020): A Real-World Social Engineering Case Study It’s one of the most famous real-world cyber attacks in recent memory. In July 2020, verified Twitter accounts belonging to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Kanye West were suddenly tweeting the same shocking message: “I am giving back to the

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Conceptual visual of a career path transitioning from IT server racks to a secure cybersecurity shield blocking red cyber threats.

How to Transition from IT to Cybersecurity: A 2025 Strategic Guide

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Breaking: The global skills gap in cybersecurity will reach 3.5 million unfilled positions by the end of 2025. For IT professionals, this isn’t just a statistic—it’s a clear signal of opportunity. Your existing foundation in systems, networks, and troubleshooting is the most critical asset for a successful IT to cybersecurity transition. This guide provides a pragmatic, step-by-path

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AWS Security Best Practices 2025 illustrated as a multi-layered, impregnable fortress protected by KMS encryption, VPC isolation, WAF, GuardDuty, and CloudTrail logging.

AWS Security Best Practices: The 2025 Guide

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I’ve spent the last decade hardening AWS at scale—regulated industries, multi-account enterprises, and scrappy startups. This 2025 guide distills what actually reduces risk in AWS right now, mapped to today’s services and defaults, with concrete moves you can ship this quarter. What changed since last year (2025 highlights) The AWS Security Stack (2025 edition) 1)

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An icon of a shield protecting an Azure cloud, symbolizing Azure security best practices.

Azure Security Best Practices: The 2025 Guide

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I’ve spent the last decade hardening Azure estates across regulated enterprises and fast-moving startups. This 2025 guide distills what actually reduces risk in Azure right now—mapped to what Microsoft ships today—with pragmatic moves you can execute this quarter. What’s new for 2025 (why this matters) 1) Identity & Access: Make compromise hard Non-negotiables Zero-trust access

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An icon of a key unlocking an Azure padlock, symbolizing Azure Conditional Access policies granting secure, identity-based access.

Azure Active Directory Conditional Access Policies: The 2025 Guide

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Conditional Access (CA) is Microsoft Entra ID’s Zero-Trust policy engine: it evaluates signals (user, device, location, app, risk) and grants or blocks access—or requires stronger controls like MFA—based on context. Treat it as the front door to everything identity touches. Microsoft Learn What’s new & important in 2025 Core building blocks (design once, reuse everywhere)

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A diverse group of women cybersecurity professionals in a modern SOC, collaboratively monitoring a large digital threat intelligence dashboard displaying real-time data visualizations and network activity maps.

Women in Cybersecurity: New Data Shows Progress in Closing the 2025 Gap

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Breaking: The 2025 Global Cybersecurity Workforce Report shows a significant shift: women now hold an estimated 35% of roles, up from 25% just five years ago. This growth marks a critical turning point for an industry facing a persistent skills shortage and increasingly sophisticated threats like AI-powered phishing and supply chain attacks. The rise isn’t accidental. It’s the direct result

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A compact, budget-friendly home lab for cybersecurity practice in 2025, featuring a refurbished black mini-PC, a network switch, an external hard drive, and a laptop screen displaying the VMware Workstation interface with Kali Linux, Windows 10, and Wireshark running simultaneously.

How to Build a Cybersecurity Home Lab on a Budget in 2025

Leave a Comment / Guides /

Advisory: The skills gap in cybersecurity continues to grow, with over 3.5 million jobs unfilled globally. Hands-on experience is now the critical differentiator for landing a SOC analyst or threat hunter role. The good news: you don’t need a corporate budget to build a capable training environment. This guide provides a practical, cost-effective blueprint for building

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A diverse IT team in a modern operations center analyzes a transparent holographic display illustrating layered cybersecurity defenses: firewalls, MFA, endpoint protection, and backups.

Cybersecurity 101: A Practical Starter Guide for IT Teams

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Breaking: Cyber threats evolve fast. New advisories signal rising attacks on small and mid-sized networks. Therefore, IT teams must build a foundational security posture now. This guide covers essential practices, common vulnerabilities, and immediate steps to reduce risk. Understand the Current Threat Landscape Cyberattacks hit over 60% of small businesses in 2024. Ransomware remains a

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Diverse cybersecurity team collaborating on a threat response plan in a modern SOC, highlighting the importance of soft skills like communication and leadership for security professionals.

Soft Skills for Cybersecurity Pros

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Breaking: Technical expertise alone isn’t enough. Modern cybersecurity roles demand strong soft skills to bridge gaps between teams, communicate risk, and lead incident response. Advisories and post-incident reports consistently highlight human factors in security failures. In practice, professionals who master these competencies advance faster and contribute more effectively to organizational resilience. Communication: Translate Technical Risk

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